Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Rosemary Garlic Pan Steak with Wilted Spinach Recipe

We eat a lot of meals that look kind of like the above photo here. Lean, healthy proteins served over lightly sauteed spinach. Spinach is the new pasta. Did you know? It's so easy to cook, and you don't even have to cook it if you don't want too. I will serve just about anything over spinach. Except cupcakes. Cupcakes don't really jive with spinach.

This was a meal from Monday night. It took about 25 minutes to make from start to finish, complete with the caramelized onion & mushroom sauce. I will say, if my kitchen is clean (as it was on Monday night -- and as it's continued to be this week -- last week was a whole 'nother ball game) I'm much more inclined to cook. If it's a mess... I'll find excuses not too.

This meal is made in two steps (well three if you count the minute it takes to saute the spinach). You first caramelize the onions and cook the mushrooms to create the sauce to serve over the spinach and steak. The majority of the cooking time is spent caramelizing the onions, that will take about 15 minutes. Once you've finished the sauce, you set it aside and keep it warm in a small bowl, and then make the steak in the same pan.

I served this steak with homemade applesauce on the side. Not really a popular side dish for steak... but we liked it! Again it was a really quick side dish to make. Have you ever made homemade apple sauce? You simply cook (peeled & seeded) apples for about 10 minutes with a little water. That's it. You can add cinnamon, maybe a little sugar if your apples are tart... but that's all you have to do.

Heat a large, heavy-duty skillet (cast iron is my favorite.) Add olive oil. When oil is hot, add onions and cook over medium-low heat, slowly for about 8-10 minutes until onions are starting to become very soft and browned (caramelized.) Add mushrooms and beef broth. Continue to cook over medium heat for an additional 8-10 minutes until broth has reduced and mushrooms are softened and cooked through. Transfer onions, mushrooms, and sauce to a small bowl and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Place skillet back on stove. Place on medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp. butter to pan. When butter is hot & sizzling add steaks. Add half of rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper to each side of the steaks. Cook steaks for 3-5 minutes on each side, until done to your preferences. Finish steaks by placing 1 tbsp. butter on each and allow to melt. Remove steaks from pan and place on a serving plate.

Add bag of fresh baby spinach to the skillet and cook for 1-3 minutes until spinach is wilted to your preference. Add half of spinach to each plate.

Slice steaks into small strips and place 3-4 ounces of steak (or whole steak depending on how hungry you are!) onto each serving of spinach. Add about 1/3 cup of onions & mushrooms with sauce over the steak and serve immediately.

For our family -- the steaks & caramelized onion sauce makes 4 servings, so we have half a steak each for dinner and save the rest for lunch the next day. TO make 4 servings of spinach, I would wilt 2 bags instead of 1. The spinach is best, when just cooked though, which is why I prefer to only cook as much as needed initially.